South Asia

South Asia

In the South Asia, major rivers, like the Ganges and the Indus, are key to people's livelihoods and cultural heritage, but are among the most polluted rivers in the world. These life giving rivers can also flood in the rainy season, causing damage and death. WLE is working to improve water quality and regulation for better food security, nutrition and livelihood security for farmers in a variety of landscapes, from mountains, to plains, to river deltas. It is also working to increase the resilience of urban and rural populations by improving water management in the region.

Disaster risk reduction

Variability in water supplies stemming from seasonal and climatic changes cause, in turn, catastrophic floods and droughts in the region, leading to damaged crops, property loss, and death. WLE is researching ways to help reduce the impacts of these variability events and improve the resilience of the rural and urban poor.

The Asia Pacific is prone to climatic disasters, with floods and droughts causing loss of life, property and food. Being prepared to meet these disasters would improve people's resilience and livelihoods.

In Uttarakhand, as many as 450 new hydropower facilities are being developed rapidly and haphazardly. Installation of hydropower facilities presents a complex combination of benefits and risks for local residents. While providing local electricity, flood control and water storage for climate mitigation, there are also negative impacts.

A new report from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) underlines the vulnerability of agriculture to climate hazards in South Asia.

CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). 2017. Reducing vulnerability among smallholder farmers through index-based flood insurance in India: equity matters. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). 4p. (WLE Briefing Series No:19)

Water management

There are serious water quality and quantity issues that plague South Asia, including severe pollution, deletion of groundwater and inequitable water distribution. If there is to be enough safe water for agriculture, industry and household use, then improving water management will be critical.

The Indus Basin is a system that supports a great number of people within and beyond its borders, but it is a system under considerable biophysical, social, economic and political stress. Planning for the future of this ever-changing, over-stretched system requires an open dialogue between scientists and policy makers.

While pollution of the Ganges appears to be an insoluble problem, demand for water – driven mainly by farming – is actually drying out certain sections of the river. Solutions exist but they require a complete rethink of current institutional frameworks and business models.

Many large programs have failed to effectively clean this sacred but highly polluted river. One overlooked opportunity is to tackle septage and focal sludge pollution from smaller cities. WLE offers sustainable and cost-effective solutions.

India has a new climate-smart cash crop: Sunshine. The sun increasingly is powering irrigation pumps on farms, and to avoid over-pumping of groundwater researchers have helped enable farmers to sell back surplus solar power to the utility grid.

Migration and social change

Many men are leaving the rural areas of South Asia in order to earn money in urban centers and other countries. This means that women are increasingly in charge of managing family farms. Instead of finding this role as head decision-maker empowering, many women are burdened with societal stigma, a lack of land and water rights, and limited access to markets, adding to their already significant burden.

December 18th was International Migrants Day. IWMI and WLE are working on migration issues in Asia and are holding a out-migration dialogue in China. Here is a photo story of male out-migration and its effects on agriculture.

Across South Asia today, male out-migration is a fact of life, particularly in the poorer Eastern states of India such as Bihar, not to mention Nepal and Bangladesh. This has led families to pursue a dual livelihood strategy, depending on both farming and migrant wage work, with neither able to fulfill their minimum needs alone, let alone provide opportunities for economic upliftment.

CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE).2016.MIgration matters.Colombo, Sri lanka:International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE).1p.

Amerasinghe, Priyanie; Dey, Dipayan. 2018. Recommendations for the wise use of urban and peri-urban wetlands in Kolkata, India. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). 8p. (WLE BRIEFING SERIES NO. 23 )

A trip along the Karnali river, where a major hydro electric project is planned, shows how different communities are impacted, as well as who can negotiate and who cannot. By Emma Karki, Diana Suhardiman, Patrick Drown, and Claire Swingle.

The Asia Pacific is prone to climatic disasters, with floods and droughts causing loss of life, property and food. Being prepared to meet these disasters would improve people's resilience and livelihoods.